Notre Dame overcame mental errors and sloppy play to beat Wake Forest 24-17 in Winston-Salem. The Irish looked a little flat and out of sorts early in the game, but did just enough to stay in the game. After going down 10-3, Tommy Rees hit Tyler Eifert on a 38 yard TD pass to tie it up. Unfortunately, Notre Dame could still not keep any momentum as Wake got a TD run from Josh Harris late in the second quarter, and held the Irish to no points.
Notre Dame looked like it got its act together early in the second half, as they drove right down and scored on a Jonas gray run to tie the game at 17. After Wake Forest failed to convert anything on their next possession, Notre Dame scored quickly as Tommy Rees finally found Michael Floyd in the endzone to make it 24-17.
The fourth quarter was nothing much but a clock burner. Wake got to the Notre Dame 10 yard line, but after losing 15 yards from a sack, the Demon Deacons missed a 42 yard field goal. Credit the Notre Dame run game for eventually taking over this game. Jonas Gray 92 yards and a touchdown, while Cierre Wood pitched in with 87 yards of his own.
It wasn’t a pretty win, and it was frustrating to watch. Even more frustrating was the broadcast team of Ed Cunningham and Mark Jones. They were fucking awful, and Cunningham just makes stuff up as he goes along. At least it’s a win, and it is the one that gets Notre Dame bowl eligible. However, there was nothing really good that came from this- including injuries to Aaron Lynch (ankle) and Manti Te’o (ankle).
ACC is rough.
I’ll have much, much more in the Hangover. Until then, just wash this win down with a cold beer and enjoy the fact that we are 6-3 and not 5-4.
